With only 16 covers a day, Roketsu will be one of London’s most exclusive restaurants
Kaiseki is a form of Japanese dining that elevates an already frequently precise cuisine to even higher levels.
Originally a meal served to Buddhist monks at tea ceremonies, Kaiseki’s simple, meditative qualities remain. It’s now a multi-course meal of small portions and subtle flavours that celebrate a different ingredient – typically highly seasonal – or cooking technique per course. And one of Japan’s leading Kaiseki chefs, Daisuke Hayashi, is bringing his expertise to Marylebone.
Having trained at the triple Michelin-starred Kikunoi in Kyoto from the age of eighteen, Hayashi is one of the few masters of the Kaiseki tradition globally, and the first to bring it to London.
Roketsu is made up of just 10 seats at the counter, with a maximum of 16 diners per night. Guests will be “taken on a journey through unique and innovative dishes which each draw from Japanese tradition yet incorporate Western techniques”, via monthly-changing menu that follows the seasons “intimately.” Well, lucky old seasons, eh?
Dishes from the winter menu, for example, include Sakizuke (Sekihan-mushi, chervil root, red mullet, yuba, bekko-an), Mukozuke (Cornish ikejime seabass, lobster) and Yakimono (house smoked chalk stream trout, horseradish miso, walnut).
The meal will last three hours and be priced at £190 per person.
Drink pairings, from sommelier Ryosuke Mashio, formerly of London’s Umu, will be available, ranging from £75 for non-alcoholic, £95 for a sake and wine pairing, and £200 for the premium version of the latter.
Bookings can be made via their website… although we suspect you may need a little good fortune as well as a web address.